Patients with severe mental illness experience poorer physical health than the general population, according to an analysis of GP practice data.
Public Health England’s analysis used a representative primary care database to determine the proportion of patients with severe mental illness, including bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia or episodes of psychosis, who had a comorbid physical condition, as defined by the QOF register.
They found that obesity was nearly twice as prevalent in patients with severe mental illness compared to the general population. Diabetes and COPD were also around twice as prevalent, with stroke and heart failure around 1.5 times as prevalent.
Younger people were even more likely to have a comorbid physical condition, with severely mentally ill patients aged between 15 and 34 three times as likely as the general population to be obese, and nearly four times as likely to have diabetes.
The report said the findings could partly be explained by the fact that practices use QOF registers to monitor the physical health of patients with severe mental illness. However, as the level of inequality between mentally ill patients and the general population is high, the report said that more research was needed to understand all the causes.
Professor Tim Kendall, national clinical director for mental health at NHS England, said: ‘Improving the life expectancy of people with serious mental health issues needs coordinated action, and this report adds to our knowledge, reinforcing the need for a continued focus on closing the physical health outcomes gap.
‘The NHS is already increasing early detection and expanding access to evidence based physical care assessment and follow-up care, with more than 280,000 people set to get help by 2020/21, while the NHS long-term plan will set out further priorities for the years ahead.’
